Hannah Kent, author of 'Burial Rites.' / Nicholas Purcell

by Jocelyn McClurg, USA TODAY

by Jocelyn McClurg, USA TODAY

What it's about: Debut novel based on the true story of workmaid Agnes Magnusdottir as she awaits execution by beheading for the murders of two men - one her lover - on an isolated, primitive farm in Iceland in 1830.

Memorable line: "In their eyes I am already a dead woman, destined for the grave."

The author

Quick bio: Kent, 27, lives near the wine region of the Adelaide Hills in southern Australia. She is completing a Ph.D in creative writing at Flinders University. When she was 17, she lived in Iceland for a year and saw the site of the country's last two public executions.

What drew her to Agnes' story: "She had been the last person led out to the block. During the course of my exchange (in Iceland), and in the years that followed, my fascination with this woman deepened."

Why she chose fiction for Agnes' tale: "I wanted to explore her ambiguity and complexity, and counter the popular opinion of her as a monster."

How she feels about Agnes: "People often assume that I sympathize with her, which I don't. Rather, I have tried to understand Agnes. She's complex: deeply flawed, deeply human."

An Aussie in Iceland: "I don't think you could find a landscape in the world more unlike Australia's! I soon fell deeply in love with it."

Her literary inspiration: Margaret Atwood: "Is there a more original, erudite, intelligent writer?"

What's next: A novel set in Ireland in the early 19th century that "will explore superstition and folklore."